First Things First
Welcome to Open Note Grappling.
Every Tuesday morning I send out a breakdown of the best combat sports action. In less than 10 minutes you'll learn how the top fighters win and anything else fighters, martial artists, and fight fans need to know.
Song Ya Dong knocked out Umar Nurmagomedov this weekend. In the process he gave us more clues about how to stay ahead of the Dagestani style and we’re going to talk about it here.
I also just put out a new paid article about Poland’s Jakub Wikłacz. He’s a guillotine machine, ripping off every head he can in KSW and the UFC. Jakub was invited to compete in this year’s ADCC World Championships so I wanted to figure out why he’s so special.
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Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
Staying In Stance
It finally happened. A man from the Nurmagomedov family got knuckled into next week and lost a fight he was supposed to dominate.
Song lands a right to the torso. Umar tries to counter with a check hook. The two feint at one another before Song throws a jab and another right to the torso. Song jabs again. Umar ducks into Song’s right and goes unconscious.
Song Ya Dong - Umar Nurmagomedov
See, Song Ya Dong is built like a Chinese super solider. He looks like a movie star and hits harder than a bullet train. But he wasn’t supposed to beat Umar. He was supposed to get out wrestled, fade late, and except his position at the back of the rankings. And early in the fight it looked like that was going to happen.
Umar catches Song’s kick. That disrupts his rhythm and breaks his stance so Umar can shoot with his head outside of Song’s hip. He locks his hands and builds up to put Song on his butt. Song tries to counter with an arm in guillotine but Umar keeps his shoulders up while slipping his head inside to escape.
Song Ya Dong - Umar Nurmagomedov
Okay so what difference did you notice between the two takedowns?
Umar scored when he got his head outside of Song’s hip. He was able to create that angle by briefly catching Song’s kick and keeping him turned away from him. When Song stayed in his stance he could fight.
In the second round Song kept his feet under his hips and just kept punching at Umar’s chest. That kept him in position to hurt Umar and prevented the Dagestani dynamo from getting his hips.
This strategy should not look too new. It reminds me of how Paul Hughes nearly took two fights off of Umar’s brother Usman.
Hughes is stalking. Usman shoots under Hughes’s punch and swings to a rear body lock. Hughes opens Usman’s hands to step out. Hughes is back to stalking. He steps in to land a right hook. They trade jabs but Hughes’s pushes Usman back. Usman lands a right leg kick, a jab, and weaves into throwing a right hand. Usman jabs and Hughes answers back by pushing Usman back with two jabs.
Usman Nurmagomedov vs Paul Hughes II
Now compare what happened to Hughes when he loaded up and left his stance.
Hughes throws an inside leg kick. Usman stomps with his lead leg, Hughes swings a wide hook, and Usman is under it. Usman runs Hughes to the floor. Hughes stands and Usman locks a body triangle with his outside leg threaded between Hughes’s legs. Hughes walks to the cage. Usman breaks him down by threatening a choke and grabbing Hughes’s leg.
Usman Nurmagomedov vs Paul Hughes II
As good as the Nurmagomedovs are, they aren’t magic. They can’t shoot through punches. That’s why Song was able to knock out Umar and why Hughes had so much success against Usman. But when both of them left their stance they were taken down seconds late.
Song Ya Dong’s win over Usman Nurmagomedov is the definition of simple, not easy. Staying in your stance and throwing straight punches is simple. But it’s not easy to stay disciplined for up to 25 minutes of fighting to put that plan into action.
Return Of The Old School
The straight punches weren’t the only simple weapons Song used on Saturday. When he was taken down he used a fundamental deep half guard sweep to get back to his feet.
Song frames on Umar’s hip with his right so he can scoop Umar’s leg. Then Song brings his knees to his chest and starts rocking side to side. Umar’s hips are over Song’s chest so he can slip out the back door. Umar spins to stay on top and finds a seat belt on Song’s back. That means he’s lost Song’s left shoulder so Umar slips off the top.
Song Ya Dong - Umar Nurmagomedov
Deep half is a position that many people overlook because it puts your head under your opponent. That means they should be able to hit you cleanly.
The thing is, if your opponent postures up to strike they give you room to sweep them. If they don’t they can’t reliably hit you hard enough to hurt you. And if you move in the position as soon as you scoop the leg you can off balance your opponent so they can’t hit you hard.
Fighters have actually been using deep half for more than a quarter of a century.
Big Nog jabs into a shot. Goodridge sprawls so Big Nog shoots into deep half guard and immediately rocks over to get Goodridge’s hips over him. Goodridge posts on his his head but that only delays Big Nog fully rolling him over.
Gary Goodridge - Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Big Nog effectively won a UFC interim title thanks to deep half.
Big Nog shoots, pulls guard, and sits up for octopus guard. Sylvia flattens Big Nog out and posts on his chest to keep his hips away. Big Nog gets wrist grips. Sylvia stands but this allows Big Nog to scoop his leg for deep half and roll him over. Big Nog steps over Sylvia’s head. Sylvia bucks and turns in with an under hooks but he runs straight into Big Nog’s arm in guillotine.
Tim Sylvia - Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
You can say deep half is risky. You cannot say it doesn't work.
Rei Tsuruya Breaks Another Man’s Balance, Face
Before Song Ya Dong knocked out Umar Nurmagomedov, Rei Tsuruya got his second win in 3 months by choking out Kevin Borjas.
Tsurya has Borjas’s legs figure foured. Borjas scoots away to wall walk. Tsuruya slips behind him for a rear body lock. He threads his right leg deep around Borjas’s right leg, steps forward with his left, and then Tsuruya kicks his right leg out to drop Borjas to his butt. Tsuruya traps Brojas’s arm so he has a clear lane for a rear naked choke.
Rei Tsuruya - Kevin Borjas
I’ve added this sequence and some other notes about Tsuruya’s fighting style to my (growing) study of his game. You can read that here 👇
Jakub Wikłacz And The Pride Of Poland
You could make the case that Poland has the richest modern martial arts history in all of Europe. Don’t believe me? Look at who the country has created.
Poland was the first European country to produce both a man and woman UFC champion, Poland’s Adam Wardziński is the first European man to win the IBJJF World Championships at Black Belt, and Wardziński, Mateusz Szczeciński, and several other countrymen will try to become ADCC World Champions this year as the tournament travels to Polan.
This year’s ADCC World Championships even invited a Polish MMA fighter who fights like a bizarro world Marcelo Garcia. His name is Jakub Wiklacz.
Jakub is the former KSW Bantamweight Champion with an 18-3-2 record. 11 of his wins are submissions and 6 of those are guillotines.
Gafarov wades into Wikłacz’s hips. Wikłacz clamps down on his neck with an arm-in guillotine and sits to half guard. Then he back rolls to get on top. Gafarov wrestles up to take top position. Then he has to concede mount to try to take some sting off Wikłacz’s squeeze. Gafarov taps at the buzzer.
Jakub Wikłacz - Muin Gafarov
If you want to see how Jakub makes guillotines, butterfly guard, and funky scrambling work in MMA before he goes to ADCC read this👇
More Matches To Study
Both of the Big Nog fights feature above are available on YouTube for free.
Also there was an event yesterday that I’d never watched before, ACBJJ. It’s submission grappling with strikes below the neck and the events feature a blend of MMA fighters and professional grapplers.
It’s like a better Combat Jiujitsu and you can watch the latest event here for free.
The Most Important News You Might Have Missed
Dillon Danis was supposed to have a freestlye wrestling match in RAF with Arman Tsarukyan on October 3rd but the card has been rescheduled. All signs point to it being rescheduled because Danis pulled out of his fight with Mike Perry over the weekend.
Dana White has been on a weird crusade lately to argue that Dana White’s Contender Series pays fighters a lot. Recently he informed us that one man who has never fought for a title has made $11M over the course of their career. That man has been identified as Kevin Holland. That comes down to $350K per fight + 10 bonuses (before taxes) after you do the math.
To put it in perspective $350K per fight is less than half of what the league minimum salaries are for the US’s four major sports leagues; NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. AKA we still got a long way to go.
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